A galactic war has left the Terran Federation in ruins. Formerly civilized planets have decivilized into barbarism. Space Vikings roam the wreckage, plundering and killing for gain. Lord Lucas Trask of Traskon was no admirer of the Space Vikings, but when murder takes his wife on his wedding day, Trask trades everything he has for his own Space Viking ship and sets out on a galaxy-wide quest for revenge. (Summary by Mark Nelson)

STUDY CONFIRMS: The Asteroid Belt WAS a Planet – Remnants of DESTROYED Planets

Study CONFIRMS that the asteroid belt was created from destroyed planets. Mainstream scientists have debunked themselves once again, previously denying any possibility that the asteroid belt was made up of a planetary collision... sometimes called those who suggested it “pseudoscientists”.

Spaceships: Engine originally designed for NASA's space shuttle​ is key to low-cost spaceplane
An unpiloted Phantom Express spaceplane climbs toward space on the power of a space shuttle-era main engine in this artist's impression. A smaller rocket attached to the spaceplane will be used to propel satellites into orbit while the winged booster flies back to a runway landing. Initial test flights are planned for 2021.

Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne successfully test-fired a space shuttle-era engine 10 times in 10 days, demonstrating the rapid turnaround capability critical to the Phantom Express, a reusable spaceplane, officials said Tuesday. The hydrogen-fueled engine that was tested was originally designed for NASA's space shuttle, which launched for 135 missions.

The Phantom Express, being developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), stands about 100 feet tall and tips the scales at 240,000 pounds. It will launch vertically using the AR-22 engine, then fly to altitudes of 40 to 60 miles and release an upper stage rocket to boost satellites weighing up to 3,000 pounds into orbit.

The unpiloted winged booster would then autonomously fly back to Earth and land horizontally on a runway like an airplane, ready for inspections and preparations for another launch in as little as one day.

The Air Force and Boeing already operate two small X-37B military spaceplanes that launch atop expendable boosters to carry out classified research in orbit. Like the Phantom Express, they return to runway landings, but they are not equipped with large engines, cannot launch on their own and are not designed to boost satellites into orbit.

"For this program, what we really wanted to do was design a system that was able to fly 10 times in 10 days," said Scott Wierzbanowski, Experimental Spaceplane program manager for DARPA. "This takes off the table the concern that a reusable spaceplane or a reusable booster can inherently be operable."

"We also wanted to design the overall system to be able to insert greater than 3,000 pounds into orbit at a cost of less than $5 million per flight. From our perspective, we figured that was kind of that sweet spot between large space lift and the small up-and-coming expendable systems that will allow us to have true military and commercial capability."

The reusable Phantom Express is designed to launch like a rocket and land like an airplane. A disposable upper stage, carrying a small satellite, is attached to the booster's side. BOEING
The Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-22 main engine was test fired 10 times between June 26 and July 6 at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi where similar RS-25 main engines are being tested for use in NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket.

The RS-25 engines are modified versions of surplus "block 2" powerplants left over from the shuttle program, while the Phantom Express engine was made up of older shuttle-heritage hardware that did not meet the more stringent requirements of the SLS system.

Even so, the idea of firing a complex shuttle main engine of any heritage a total of 10 times in 240 hours would have shocked shuttle engineers who devoted long hours to painstaking inspections and servicing between flights.

That's not surprising given a 7,000-pound shuttle engine generated more than 375,000 pounds of thrust at sea level with a hydrogen turbopump that spun at more than 35,000 rpm while generating 71,000 horsepower. The shuttle flew with three such engines while the Phantom Express will use just one.

For the 10 rapid-turnaround test firings, the AR-22 was operated at 100 percent power and throttled to as low as 80 percent during runs lasting at least 100 seconds.

Jeff Haynes, AR-22 program manager for Aerojet Rocketdyne, said the ability to fire the engine 10 times in 10 days was due to the company's long experience across the shuttle and SLS programs, which includes more than a million seconds of cumulative firing time and more than 3,200 starts.

"So we have a lot of data on the inspections that we need to run and how (many) of those have actually resulted in findings," he said. "We did do some boroscope (inspections of turbine blades), we did some torque checks on some of the turbo machinery and we did nozzle leak checks and things like that. But we did not do the typical shuttle profile of pulling the pumps from the engine and doing a detailed inspection."

In addition, he said, "we have significant instrumentation that allows us to know when we are getting into issues and we have redlines that allow us to abort in that scenario. So we felt that running up to those points would be sufficient, and it was successful. So that is the approach we are taking going forward."

Haynes said enough components are available to build a second flight-qualified AR-22 engine and that the test article used in the fast-turnaround tests also could be used for flight.

The program hopes to launch the Phantom Express on its first test flight in 2021. Managers have not yet selected a design for the disposable upper stage or settled on a home base for the spaceplane.

What if we could use the cold darkness of outer space to cool buildings on earth? In this mind-blowing talk, physicist Aaswath Raman details the technology he's developing to harness "night-sky cooling" -- a natural phenomenon where infrared light escapes earth and heads to space, carrying heat along with it -- which could dramatically reduce the energy used by our cooling systems (and the pollution they cause). Learn more about how this approach could lead us towards a future where we intelligently tap into the energy of the universe.

Point the dark side of the spaceship away from the sun, and use the opportunity to panel the other side with solar cells. If an atmosphere is a requirement, blow up fuel condom with air on the dark side.

Spaceships: A new way to remove CO2 from the atmosphere | Jennifer Wilcox
Our planet has a carbon problem -- if we don't start removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, we'll grow hotter, faster. Chemical engineer Jennifer Wilcox previews some amazing technology to scrub carbon from the air, using chemical reactions that capture and reuse CO2 in much the same way trees do ... but at a vast scale. This detailed talk reviews both the promise and the pitfalls.

Spaceships/stations: What's the Most Realistic Artificial Gravity in Sci-Fi? | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios
2001: A Space Odyssey introduced a lot of people to the idea of rotation based artificial gravity, but in sci-fi, it’s far from the only one to implement the idea! Babylon 5, Halo, and Ringworld also used rotation-based artificial gravity in their stores, but, being an astrophysicist I had to ask, WHO DOES IT BEST? And more importantly, is artificial gravity in space possible? And I’m talking outside of your artificial gravity in Kerbal Space Program (but we may get there).

Everyone knows that the Death Star had a critical weakness which allowed the Rebels to win, but was there ANOTHER one that would have finished it off well before that? Kyle stays on target on this week's Because Science!

In the last 20 years it's been surprisingly common for space probes to end missions early because reaction wheels have failed, moreover there's been a large number of failures associated with a specific supplier - Ithaco. A NASA spin off which developed low cost reaction wheel systems that helped bring the cost down for many space missions.
A new study offers some clues as to what might have been going on and why solar weather might be able to damage mechanical systems.

Spaceships: Fighter Jockeying and How to Dogfight in Jets: Air Combat Maneuvering: Flight Tactics 1960 USAF Training Film

Air combat manoeuvring (also spelled: air combat maneuvering, or ACM) is the art of manoeuvring a combat aircraft in order to attain a position from which an attack can be made on another aircraft. It relies on offensive and defensive basic fighter manoeuvring (BFM) in order to gain an advantage over an aerial opponent...

There are five main things which a pilot must remain conscious of when contemplating an aerial engagement, of which, getting and keeping sight is the most important. In Southeast Asia, over 85% of all kills are attributed to the attacker spotting and shooting the defender without ever being seen. Structural limitations of both the attacking and defending fighters must be taken into account, such as thrust-to-weight ratio, wing loading, and the "corner speed" (the maximum/minimum speed at which the aircraft can attain the best turning performance). Variable limitations must also be considered, such as turn radius, turn rate, and the specific energy of the aircraft. Position of aircraft must quickly be assessed, including direction, angle off tail (the angle between flight paths),[7] and closing speed. Also, the pilot must be aware of his wingman’s position, and maintain good communication.

A pilot in combat attempts to conserve his aircraft’s energy through carefully timed and executed manoeuvres. By using such manoeuvres, a pilot will often make trade offs between the fighter’s potential energy (altitude), and kinetic energy (airspeed), to maintain the energy-to-weight ratio of the aircraft, or the "specific energy".[6] A manoeuvre such as the "low yo-yo" trades altitude for airspeed to gain closure on an enemy, and to decrease turn radius. The opposite manoeuvre, a "high yo-yo", trades speed for height, literally storing energy in "the altitude bank", which allows a fast moving attacker to slow his closing speed.

An attacker is confronted with three possible ways to pursue an enemy, all of which are vital during chase. "Lag pursuit" happens in a turn when the nose of the attacker’s aircraft points behind an enemy’s tail. Lag pursuit allows an attacker to increase or maintain range without overshooting. "Lead pursuit" in a turn occurs when the nose of the attacking aircraft points ahead of the enemy. Lead pursuit is used to decrease the distance between aircraft, and during gun attacks where the cannons must be aimed, not at where the defender is, but where he will be when the bullets get there. "Pure pursuit" happens when the nose of the attacker points directly at the defender. Pure pursuit is when most missiles will be fired, and is the hardest position to maintain. These are known as pursuit curves...

Doesn't have any bearing on how combat in space works:
no atmosphere - so no control surface maneuvering, all you have is thrust and Sir Isaac
line of sight to several light seconds with nothing to hide you
computer controlled weapon systems with reaction times way above what a human pilot can achieve

Two fleets close to just outside weapon range and launch fighters, drones and missiles, with the odd heavily armoured and PD equipped escort class. This cloud of fun moves to engage, meanwhile the enemy has done the same.

The two clouds duke it out - any ordnance that gets through will face the guns, counter missiles, screens etc of the capitals that have been launching the cloud.

If your cloud can penetrate the enemy's, or better yet completely wipe out their cloud you can then close with the capitals.